The team walked neatly among the mountains and fields, with a scorching sun overhead, and a road full of brown soil under their feet. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info In order to hurry up and quickly gain a foothold in Nanjiaozhou and open up a new situation, Huang Zhong had to take a little risk and walk directly on this official avenue, which led directly to Liandao City along the avenue.

Jiaozhou is a vast and sparsely populated place, even after being replenished by a certain number of northern displaced people. Although the counties set up here since the Qin Dynasty, because of the characteristics of the vast land and sparse population, the distribution of counties in Jiaozhou is very unusual, some counties are not large, and the general counties of the Central Plains are equivalent, while some counties are deep and wide, full of the size of a county in the Central Plains, just like this Hepu County, the three counties of Pingshan, Changping and Liandao in the north are three "small counties" with the same geographical area adjacent to each other, and Hepu County to the south of Liandao is a much larger "giant county" than the three counties in the north. Its county area is several times that of the three northern counties.

Although it is particularly reasonable to determine the administrative hierarchy of the corresponding area and divide the county into counties based on the initial population, the huge difference between the regions of Rendao Castle and Hepu Castle at the moment has made the gap between Liandao and Hepu Castle extremely large. Since Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty, the weakening of local forces has always been the national policy established by the promising emperors, especially in the three dynasties of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and several emperors after the rise of the Eastern Han Dynasty have done not as much as their ancestors in this regard, but they have also implemented such a policy as always, of course, such a national policy has been more or less resisted by the local clans.

"One county, one city" is a very important policy of the central government to weaken the localities. Although this policy is never really possible to be realized for one reason or another, it has been implemented very well in some relatively stable places and some relatively remote southern barbarian places, especially in Jiaozhou.

"Because the three northern counties are so different from the area of the county, it is very important to connect the road. From this link to the south, you can go straight to the city of Hepu, and from the link to the north, you can control Changping and Pingshan. As far as the current situation is concerned, if Changping is the rear of the attack on Huai'an, then Liandao is undoubtedly the rear of Changping. According to the information we have obtained, most of the grain and grass materials of the Shixie Department are hoarded in Liandao. If we can take this place, then the troops that Shi Xie uses to attack Huai'an, his avenging army will be left alone with no roots and no water, and it will only take a few days to collapse without food. Huang Zhong said with a smile to his two lieutenants.

After the "defeat", Huang Zhong, who had the intention of doing a big job, sent his plan to Li Sheng in a fast horse encryption way. Originally, Huang Zhong also wanted to make a fact first, after all, it was very likely that the lord from his family would not agree to his own assertions. However, he never thought that not long after the letter from his side was delivered, it could be regarded as just enough to send it to the lord Li Sheng's side for a round trip, and he received Li Sheng's reply, the most unexpected of which was that the lord Li Sheng completely agreed with his own somewhat whimsical plan.

"I don't know what the lord thinks." With such an unexpected situation, Huang Zhong couldn't help but mutter. However, he was still a little happy that his plan was approved by the lord. Although he didn't show the same excitement as a young man because he was older, the excitement hidden in his heart still made him a little different from usual, and the words he said were a lot more "excessive".

"Since Liandao is the grain and grass hoarding ground of the Shixie Army, then there should be heavy soldiers. For such a place, with our current strength, I am afraid it is not easy to attack it. Sha Lei is a simple brave general, naturally he will not put forward his own opinions, and although Chen Xu is also brave, but he has read some military books and battle strategies, for what Huang Zhong said, he thought about it in silence for a while, and then put forward his own thoughts: "We did not return to Anguang, and naturally we did not bring suitable siege equipment." At the beginning, our strategy for Changping was just to go around the city and intimidate them. Now that I have to attack Liandao with my own strength, I always feel a little unsteady in my heart. ”

"Haha!" Huang Zhong immediately laughed loudly when he heard Chen Xu say this, he seemed to be very pleased that Chen Xu would have such an idea, happily patted him lightly on the shoulder, and said in a harmonious voice: "Captain Chen is really a cautious person. If I didn't know the information about Liandao, I'm afraid I would have the same thoughts as you. After all, under normal circumstances, there's nothing wrong with your thoughts. But for now, for this Shixie, who is only interested in revenge, your thoughts are too cautious. I don't know if Shi Xie is only thinking about the reward, or if these landlords think that it is unlikely that we will kill this place, in short, there are only 500 defenders in this huge Liandao City, and they are all extremely weak, old, weak, sick and disabled, so it can be said that they have no combat effectiveness at all. This is the best time for us to capture the connecting road, and if we miss it, it will be difficult to have such a good opportunity next time. ”

"That's right." Chen Xu listened to his boss explain the current situation in Liandao, and finally relieved himself, and nodded approvingly. He wasn't stupid, he understood the importance of Liandao City. So, he suggested to Huang Zhong: "Let's take the avenue." ”

"Take the avenue? Wouldn't that be too risky? Although rushing from the Great Dao to Liandao City is the fastest, and it is also the most suitable for an army like ours, but now that we are going to sneak attack, is it necessary to be so public? When Huang Zhong heard this, he asked with some puzzlement and worry.

"Our current sneak attack on Liandao City is not just to capture Liandao, but to reduce the pressure on Huai'an's side by attacking Liandao. Although the lord has personally led the army to reinforce Huai'an, we don't know whether the reinforcements will have an effect or not, and whether they can catch up in time. In this case, we should not put our hopes in the Lord, but let ourselves be the Lord to solve the matter at hand. This makes us very short of time, and we urgently need to get to Liandao City as soon as possible. In response to Huang Zhong's inquiry, Chen Xu shook his head slightly, still insisting on his opinion: "As for the problem that your whereabouts may be discovered, General, I think we can deal with it like this." We can detain all the guys we encounter along the way, and send mounted scouts to explore the march for ten miles to the left and right. The south is no better than the north, and there is no place with such a wide field of vision, as long as we can grasp the situation within a radius of ten miles of the route, and take certain measures, the news of our sneak attack on Liandao will not reach Shi Xie's ears so easily. I admit that there are more risks than walking the trails, but such risks are necessary at the moment. ”

"Hmm!" Hearing his lieutenant general say such a reason, Huang Zhong groaned slightly, and really laughed quickly: "What you say is very reasonable." Well, just do as you say. You're in charge of the Scouts, so control them as much as you can. If you can't, you know what to do. "Huang Zhong is a benevolent general, but his benevolence is not a woman's benevolence, when something is necessary to kill, he will not hesitate to give the order to kill.

"No!" Chen Xu agreed, and then assured Huang Zhong: "Please rest assured. I will never embarrass you, General, in this matter. ”

"Huh." Huang Zhong shook his head, waved his hand lightly, and said, "I don't care how much this kind of killing affects my reputation. I only hope that your actions will affect the reputation of the lord. ”

"I see." The expression on Chen Xu's face suddenly became serious, he turned over and arched his hand to his boss and said, "General, then I'll go like this?" ”

"Go ahead." Huang Zhong smiled faintly, and watched him and the group of men and horses under him go away with his eyes.

The soldiers and horses marched along the main road, day and night, and finally arrived at the foot of Liandao Castle after the third day of the night's battle. Like most of the county towns in Jiaozhou, this Liandao City is also a city built on the mountain, and the slightly undulating injuries make a piece in the northwest of the city slightly bulge, although it is still maintained as much as possible to make a regular shape, but from a distance, it makes people feel strange in it. Because there was no river to rely on around the castle, there was no moat in Liandao Castle, and there was only an X-shaped rejection of horses in the area of about two or three zhang below the city walls. This is the defense of Liandao Castle to prevent the enemy from approaching the city walls.

"What a rudimentary way to defend yourself. It seems that as the intelligence said, Liandao City was not guarded. Huang Zhong led Sha Lei and Chen Xu to quietly climb the mountain, and the closest one to the city in the north of the city looked at the city that was only half a mile away from him, and said with a slight sigh.

Huang Zhong and the others did not directly array the soldiers and horses under the city, putting on the appearance that we have already come. He knew very well what his strength was, and he was still thinking about how to take Liandao City, whether it was a hard attack or some other method. He was going to see the enemy's arrangement before making a decision. So he stopped his party and settled down in a valley about two miles from the city, and took two lieutenants and a few clever guys with him, and went straight to see the reality of the enemy, which was somewhat a bold act.

Of course, Huang Zhong is still careful. Under the protection of the scout arches scattered around, and under the carelessness of the people in Liandao City, the reality of Liandao City quickly fell into Huang Zhong's eyes. It didn't go unnoticed during this period.

"Do you have any plans to take Liandao City?" Huang Zhong squinted his eyes and pondered the question as he handed it over to his two lieutenants. "Use more brains and let more people come together to see the details!" This is what Li Sheng has been admonishing his generals and officials, and everyone naturally takes this sentence to heart. Although for now, there is no one else who can come up with ideas for him except for a Chen Xu, but out of habit, he still uses "you" instead of just saying the word "you" to this Chen Xu.

"What else do you think? The enemy's defenses are so rubbish that I can take the city with a single charge. Huang Zhong was originally waiting for Chen Xu to open his mouth to express his own opinion, he originally thought that only Chen Xu would speak in this kind of discussion occasion, but the current situation was very unexpected to him, Chen Xu did not speak, he was still thinking, and Sha Lei, who had always been regarded as a brave general and would only charge into battle, put forward his own opinion unexpectedly. Although, there is not much difference between what is said and what is not said.

"It was a hard attack, although it was a very direct and effective method, but the losses suffered by our army in this way were also amazing. Don't you look at the defenders in the city are only 500, in fact, the Shi family has lived in Jiaonan for a long time, and has run this Hepu and Jiaozhi counties for more than ten years, is there no faithful minister on the land? If these people incite the people of the city to become enemies of us, I am afraid that this Liandao city will become the Huai'an of our army. The strategy of hard attack is really a move that must be done as a last resort. Huang Zhong shook his head, disagreeing with Sha Lei's opinion.

"That'...... My lord, how do you say you should fight? Just listen to it. "Sha Lei did not have any dissatisfaction with his suggestion being rejected by his boss, he knew that his strength was not in the aspect of giving advice, so he gently got rid of such a relationship." It's too tiring to get old and think about what you don't have. He thought so innocently.

Huang Zhong, who already had some ideas in his heart, smiled slightly, but did not follow Sha Lei's words to express his thoughts, but directly turned his gaze to the young cavalry captain, and asked him in a harmonious voice: "Captain Chen, do you have any ideas about attacking this Liandao City?" ”

"Well, a little bit of a thought." Chen Xu lowered his contemplative head and raised it when he heard this, his eyes were full of clear light, "General Qiyu, I thought that I could use the strategy of stealing the city at night. Taking advantage of the fact that the enemy did not find us at the moment, and was still lax, he sent the dead soldiers to open the city gate overnight, so that our army could directly take this Liandao City. ”

"The strategy of stealing the city at night?" Huang Zhong twisted his beard and thought for a moment, then asked Chen Xu again: "What do you think is the probability of success in doing this?" ”

"If the dead are elite, there is a seventy percent chance of success in doing so." Chen Xu thought about it and replied honestly.

"That's the best-case scenario, but we don't have that good dead at the moment." Huang Zhong smiled and still shook his head: "There are no such powerful dead soldiers, I think the success rate of this plan will be much lower." If you and I do this with the sergeants in our hands, I'm afraid it will be easy to alarm the enemy. ”

"And what do you think, General?" Seeing Huang Zhong's confident rejection of his plan, Chen Xu immediately knew that Huang Zhong already had his own plan in his heart, and he didn't say anything at the moment, just asked modestly.

"The idea of sneaking into the city and stealing the city is naturally good. It's just that I went to steal the city overnight, but there was no need. I know we're in a hurry, but at this point, we should be calm and careful. Huang Zhong opened his mouth calmly: "I think we can take advantage of Liandao City's current laxity and send people in broad daylight." As you have just seen, Liandao City is an extremely prosperous place. There are not afraid of thousands of people coming in and out of the city gates every day. If our soldiers were mixed in and hundreds of people entered the city, I don't think the laxity of the city would have much of a reaction. And that's our chance to succeed. We enter the city during the day, scatter them around, gather at night, and open the north gate, so that what else can stop us from the city? With that, he stared at his two subordinates, quietly waiting for their answers.

"Hmm! It's a good idea. That's a good idea! Chen Xu groaned slightly, and then stroked his palms and laughed.

Shara, who was beside him, didn't react to this, maybe in his opinion, the strategy of how to change was not a direct cover-up.

And so the matter was settled. Huang Zhong and the others quickly returned to the camp and began their preparations for the implementation of this plan. At that time, the sun in the sky was blazing hot, and the hunger in my stomach and the feeling of extreme exhaustion and sadness caused by sweat in my body were mercilessly invading everyone here. In such a situation, even Huang Zhong himself did not immediately have the idea of letting his soldiers carry out the mission. "Let's give everyone a break. It's not too late to do this tomorrow. It was the first time when the gates of the city were opened, and everyone poured in, and it was the most convenient time for us to do things. Huang Zhong thought like this, and naturally his mind became calm. After all, there is still plenty of time for him in such a situation.

The preparation of personnel was still very smooth. Because there is no need for his soldiers to do the kind of technical work such as flying up the city wall, almost a few people can meet the conditions of this mission. However, from Huang Zhong to Chen Xu, to Sha Lei, several important leaders did not see things so simply, and they always wanted to do this thing perfectly. Since there are no big requirements for the ability of soldiers, they begin to focus on other aspects of the selection of soldiers.

The first is the height and size, and all the tall and burly soldiers were mercilessly excluded from the mission. Because they were tall and strong, even if they were dressed in the clothes of the people, they mingled with the people and it was easy for one to distinguish them from the people. You must know that the people also have the unique temperament of the people.

This is the first step, and the second step is to weed out those who are full of qualities. Because stealing the city is a hidden job, no one who wants to sneak into the city can have too unique places. So the handsome people were eliminated, the grumpy people were eliminated, the stupid people were also eliminated, and the last remaining people of about three hundred or so were all ordinary guys with numb expressions on their faces. They will be the protagonists of the next battle.

The operation began the next morning when the gates of Liandao City were opened, and about a hundred soldiers dressed up as civilians, carrying short knives hidden close to their bodies, mingled with the people who were also about to enter the city, and bustled into their targets. Perhaps because it had been stable for a long time, the defenders of Liandao City did not do too strict inspections, but only let them all go after collecting a penny of entry fees according to the rules. The so-called northern legends of the soldiers who defended the city, and the common people who entered the city tricked and insisted on raising the entrance fee did not happen here, first, there was no need to raise the entrance fee to collect money, and secondly, most of the soldiers who came to the city here were natives, and they were not willing to be too strict with their own villagers. Although they are just small soldiers, they also have an account of everything in their hearts.

The troops in charge of the infiltration mission entered the city one after another, except for the first time when the door opened and a small group of more than 100 people entered, most of the other times they entered in the single digits of 351 gangs. They dressed up as ordinary petty traders, beckoning a few soldiers dressed as men to enter; Or pretending to be a peasant, and walking together with several soldiers dressed as peasants, they all entered the city of Liandao safely. They did not arouse any suspicion from the defenders of Liandao City, after all, this Liandao City is one of the important places for exchanges between the north and south counties of Hepu County, and there are thousands of people coming and going on weekdays, but at this moment, there are hundreds more, who can see it? Even if I feel a little strange in my heart, I can't help but feel relieved to see the extra entrance fee.

"Everything is going well." Standing on the dirt slope where he observed the situation in Liandao City yesterday, Huang Zhong couldn't help but rejoice as he watched his soldiers enter the city one after another unharmed. The plan went on without twists and turns, and he couldn't help but think, "Just wait until the evening, and you can complete the task." ”

And that seems to be the case. When the sun had set and the moon had risen from the east into the dark sky, Huang Zhong's army had come under the not-so-tall walls of Liandao City. He originally thought that there would be a lot of commotion in the city, and after there was a shout of killing, someone would open his long-awaited city gate. However, the reality of the situation was much more than he expected, and in the quiet of the night, the city gate was gently opened. There is no other movement, as if everything has fallen into place, quietly waiting for the entry of these "conquerors" of themselves.

"Strange?" In the face of such a smooth situation, Huang Zhong put down some doubts, he reined in the soldiers and horses, and did not let his team enter the city, but sent a small soldier to the city, making the sound of "chirping". This is a code, a code to contact the city in an emergency. Although everything in front of him was very battlefield, it became a kind of strangeness to be too normal, which made Huang Zhong have to be more cautious. He asked people to send out the code, and he also wanted to test it to see if the soldiers in the city were really okay, and whether they could quickly match the code.

"Chirp chirp...... Chirping...... "There was no pause, only as soon as the secret signal from Huang Zhong's side stopped, the chirps in the city suddenly started, and it was repeated five times.

"Everything works!" That's what the strange voice of the city said.

In this case, Huang Zhong's heart was temporarily relieved, although he still felt a little strange in doubt, but as a general who commanded the whole army and needed to be decisive, he still ordered the whole army to enter the city. After all, everything had been normal so far, and he really couldn't use his doubts as a reason to raise them.

Calm down, holding his breath, his face was as usual, but he was trembling in his heart through the spacious but not far-reaching city gate hole in Liandao City, and entered the city that was still quiet in the black tranquility, Huang Zhong didn't have time to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard a burst of footsteps around him, but saw Chen Xu, who was in charge of the ambush in the city, striding over, and arrived at his side, and saluted himself: "My lord, everything has been completed smoothly." ”

"Smooth?" Huang Zhong looked around and didn't find anything unusual, so he asked Chen Xu very strangely: "Is there really no trouble?" Why is this Liandao City so quiet tonight? Seeing Chen Xu Huang Zhong's heart, he settled down, and he also had something on his mind to directly express his doubts.

"Well, there's no way around it." Chen Xu said with a strange expression.

"How?" Hearing Chen Xu's words, Huang Zhong became more and more strange.

"The enemy is too careless. As soon as it was dark, most of the defenders at the head of the city went back to their homes in the city to rest, and there were less than two hundred men in the barracks, and only two hundred of them were still eating and drinking there with nothing to do. As for the top of the city, there are only a dozen people in twos and threes, and they are very scattered, and they were all solved by us before they had time to react. Because the movement of the hand is relatively fast, naturally there is no sound. Chen Xu explained with a smile.

"So those people in the city don't even know we're in the city, right?" Huang Zhong's eyes narrowed.

"Exactly." Chen Xu nodded heavily.

"Hehe, since that's the case, then things are much easier." Huang Zhong smiled proudly, and then gave an order: "Chen Xu, you rush straight over with your men and horses, don't block those people in the barracks for me." Shara, you take another part of the city and take over the city defense for me. I myself took people to deal with the affairs of the county government. It's late at night, and it's about two hours before dawn. I hope it all works out before dawn. ”

"Yes......!" "No!" Sha Lei and Chen Xu bowed down to receive the order.

They went quickly.

Even the peace of Dao City cannot be maintained this time. With the startled sound of a large group of soldiers running through the streets, the small city suddenly boiled. Countless people were awakened in their sleep, and then opened the door in annoyance to try to lose their temper, but they did shrink their heads under the silent intimidation of the brightly armored soldiers outside the door.

There were so many of them that they didn't look at them, and they were scared. What's going on? How can there be so many people? Most of the people were so nervous that they could only hide in their homes. Occasionally, there are a few bold ones, who dare not walk on the avenue, and can only stand cautiously in their own courtyards, looking around. Soon they heard the waves of shouts and killings, and saw the fires that rose to the south of the city, where the barracks were burning. Fierce battles were fought there. Just passing in front of their house was the enemy.

Facts after facts struck them. And so they stayed until dawn. At that time, they only made it clear that Liandao City had been captured. Huang Zhong has ordered someone to write a notice for the people and post it at the intersection of each street.